Sub Zero Temperatures and Storms Bring Misery to Displaced Syrians

Rain, heavy snow and bitter cold are threatening the safety of at least 7 million Syrian children. “Briefing the press in Geneva this afternoon, UNICEF’s Christophe Boulierac warned that the number of children who need clothes and winter items is increasing exponentially. Six children have already died due to the extreme weather. Temperatures in parts of Syria are currently reaching -11 degrees Celsius.Living in tents, unfinished buildings and inadequate shelters, more and more children are being exposed to sub-zero temperatures, heavy snow and strong winds. This leaves them vulnerable to respiratory tract infections and other illnesses associated with cold weather.” (UN News Center http://bit.ly/1wbtWpB)

Wait, lawmakers actually cut their own pay? This is a story we do not often see anywhere in the world. Lawmakers in Burkina Faso gave themselves a 50-percent pay cut Tuesday, following a public outcry over the “indecent” wages enjoyed by members of the country’s interim assembly. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1KGIRCH)

Stat of the Day: 3 million children living with HIV….A new study said HIV-positive children are much more likely to die from pneumonia than children who are not infected with the AIDS virus. It’s estimated there are more than three million children under age 14 living with HIV. The vast majority are in sub-Saharan Africa. (VOA http://bit.ly/1AMzA6D)

Ebola

China is ramping up its assistance in the fight against Ebola by dispatching an additional 232 army medical workers to West Africa, state media reported. (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/1wbtnMh)

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says he remains “very confident” the Ebola outbreak that has devastated West Africa can be stopped. (VOA http://bit.ly/1AXcz3s)

The rate of new Ebola cases in Liberia has plunged, Sierra Leone is beginning to turn the corner in dealing with the deadly virus and health officials are now focused on Guinea, a USAID official said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z71jkx)

The World Health Organization says governments flouted their obligations during the Ebola crisis and wants more power to tackle health emergencies in future, documents published by the international agency showed. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z70VT9)

Africa

A senior Lord’s Resistance Army commander who surrendered last week to the U.S. military in the Central African Republic will be handed over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for trial, a Ugandan army spokesman said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1IHtOVv)

At least 143 Boko Haram fighters were killed in an attack on a military camp in Cameroon on Monday, a minister said, adding that it was the heaviest loss sustained by the Nigerian Islamist group in the country. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1IHtQga)

The United Nations said that the latest wave of Boko Haram’s “vicious, ruthless attacks” in northeastern Nigeria had sent 11,320 people fleeing into Chad in a matter of days. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1FRHfWT)

China mediated talks between South Sudan’s warring factions, winning pledges from the rivals to speed up the country’s peace process. (VOA http://bit.ly/1CfDzsh)

South Africa says military intervention by its contingent of United Nations peacekeepers is now “inevitable” after Rwanda-backed rebels in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo did not comply with a January 2 deadline to disarm. (VOA http://bit.ly/1CfDEMD)

A key railway line which links landlocked Zambia to the ports in Tanzania has been shut after workers downed tools to demand five months unpaid salaries, the operating company said Tuesday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1AXlu4R)

MENA

The Islamic State released a video purporting to show a child executing two men accused of being Russian spies who tried to infiltrate the militant organization in Syria. (USA today http://usat.ly/1wbtuYf)

UNICEF says it is stepping up assistance for hundreds of thousands of Syrian children at risk of illness and death due to bitterly cold weather. (VOA http://bit.ly/1KGIKqX)

U.N.-backed negotiations between rival Libyan factions looked in doubt on Tuesday after one of the delegations said it would postpone a decision on whether to participate until Sunday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z70cBa)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi could still pardon three jailed Al Jazeera journalists who are now facing a retrial if he deems it appropriate, the country’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1xlbmvh)

Egypt’s high court on Tuesday overturned the only remaining conviction against former president Hosni Mubarak, opening the way for his possible release four years after the revolution that toppled him. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1KGvBOo)

Islamic State fighters must be wiped out, France’s defense minister said on Tuesday, indicating that Paris would not pull back from military operations overseas after 17 people were killed by home-grown militants in Paris last week. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1AXlCBq)

Asia

HRW says the leader of Cambodia, Hun Sen, has “repeatedly used political violence, repression, and corruption to remain in power,” as the leader nears his 30th anniversary in power. (VOA http://bit.ly/1CfDy7A)

Sri Lanka’s Marxist opposition filed a corruption complaint on Tuesday against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his relatives and asked the anti-graft body to prevent them from leaving the country. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1CfNb65)

An Uber taxi driver accused of raping a woman passenger in New Delhi will go on trial in a fast-track court this week after entering a not guilty plea Tuesday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1AXlEsZ)

The United States will provide a $1 billion loan guarantee to embattled Ukraine if the government remains on track with an IMF-backed reform program, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1AXlulo)

A profile of one voluntary community-based distribution worker in Laos, trained by the Laotian government and the UN population fund to spread the word about family planning and distribute free contraceptives in his community. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1BkRM8T)

The Americas

Venezuelan authorities released a dozen demonstrators who had been arrested over the weekend while protesting swelling lines at supermarkets, following several days of scattered unrest that included a group of masked assailants burning a bus. (VOA http://bit.ly/1AXdJMh)

A top FARC negotiator Tuesday reaffirmed the Colombian rebel group’s intention to observe a unilateral ceasefire so long as its forces do not come under attack. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1AXlt11)

Thousands of autoworkers in Brazil’s biggest city have blocked a major highway to protest the firing of 800 Volkswagen workers. (AP http://yhoo.it/1CfN8HI)

The wife of a Mexican politician suspected of helping to plot the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers in September will be tried for engaging in organized crime, the federal courts authority said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1CfNdeh)